Monday, August 31, 2009

Little Rainbow Fairies Tutorial

Welcome to my first tutorial. These little fairies were designed to live in the little papiermache mushroom that Rainbow girl and I made. You can just see it behind the S fairy and a slightly better photo on the winter nature table.

This tutorial is very simple and all hand sewn with matching thread. In addition to the felt you'll need a wooden bead, a seed bead and embroidery thread for hair.b They are easily adapted to any size and could be embellished. The yellow S fairy stands 5cm tall, while the little fairies are about 2 cm tall.

1. Draw up your templates. It's worth doing it on paper first so that you can see how it will fit together. Looking across the top row -

The first piece is the body. I traced around a shot glass for the little fairy and a cup for the big fairy. Cut the circle in half then cut out a wedge (about 15 degrees).

The next piece is the wings. I go for an upside down heart but you could think butterfly or dragonfly wing shape.

The third is the base. This is pretty forgiving. I just draw a rough circle around the rolled up paper body. The large yellow fairy is actually base less and commonly worn as a finger puppet.

The last piece is the hat. 2. Fold the body in half and sew using a back stitch. Cut of the tip of the top and bottom to allow ease of turning. Then turn it so the seam is on the inside.

3. Use a running stitch to attach the wings so the middle of the wings lies on the seam of the body.

4. Sew the base on using a couching stitch.

5. Push a needle from the base up through the fairies neck, through the wooden bead, through the seed bead and then back down to the base. You might need a touch of hot glue to stop the head wobbling. This step may be done before sewing the base on.

6. Sew the hat as for the body. I've also shown the hair cut into 3 lengths. Leave them bunched up.

7. Hot glue the hair on to the very top so it crosses in 3 lines. I did a bit of a hodgepodge job of this fairy and glued my finger on in the process! You might need to add glue between the layers of hair.

8. Fill the hat with glue and pop it on. Then style the hair with some embroidery scissors and draw on a simple face with a permanent marker. Easy peasy!

Most importantly, here is Rainbow girl playing with the fairy. This is a picture of the fairy sitting on her jumping bean (trampoline) birthday cake complete with 10 candles, a raspberry on top and two fairy friends singing Happy Birthday.

And here's the girl herself joining in the singing.I hope this tutorial is clear. It's my first attempt so I'm keen on getting some feedback and I would love to see your fairies. I hope to hear from you.

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About Me

This blog chronicles the lives of our family - things we create, things we do and things which bring us 'bliss'.
Rainbow child has a toy bilby. When together he makes her 'bilbified' - a blissful trance where she is oblivious to the world.